Mail thinks Belarus is nicer than Britain

Britain is the worst place in Europe to live, screams the Mail.

This may surprise people who might think that living in Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe, might be a bit worse. President Lukashenko brutally suppresses any free speech, free media or dissent. For the 2006 Presidential election:

Lukashenko later claimed that he had rigged the election results against himself to obtain a majority more typical of western countries. Although the results showed to him gave him 93.5 percent of the vote, he directed the government to announce a result of 86 percent.

But the Mail has form on doing these stories which make Britain seem the worst place in the world to live, while at the same time claiming it's a paradise that all immigrants want to get to.

So who has made the claim? Well it's from a new study of quality of life in ten western European countries.

Ah, so not worst in Europe then, because forty countries weren't included.

Hmm. The measures used - salary, holiday days, hours of sunshine, life expectancy - are areas you might expect in such a study.

But the Mail adds:

rising food and fuel bills

And a quote from the spokesman of the firm that produced the report says:

We earn substantially more than our European neighbours, but this level of income is needed just to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and our homes warm.

Why the fascination with fuel prices and keeping homes warm?

Surely it's nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the survey was produced by uSwitch, a price comparison website with focuses, among other things, on making sure people get cheap fuels deals.

The story has been picked up by almost every newspaper, so no doubt uSwitch's press release team can pack themselves on the back for a job well done.

The newspapers - not so much.